Paul Hartley: ‘I’m a football workaholic – that’s how you need to be’

THIS is the first summer in 25 years that Paul Hartley hasn’t been involved in football.

He left school, fresh-faced and beard-less, at 15 to join Hamilton Accies.

From there his career took him to pulling on his boots for Millwall, St Johnstone, Morton, Hibs, Hearts, Celtic, Bristol City, Aberdeen and Scotland.

After hanging up his studs, he went straight into management and had successful spells with Alloa and Dundee.

But the Dark Blues relieved him of his duties in April, and that has given Hartley a period of time to reflect as he waits for his next challenge in the game.

Giving his first exclusive interview since he left Dens Park, Hartley, 40, insisted he has no axe to grind with the Dundee hierarchy.

He told the Sunday Post: “I’ve been a manager for six years and I’ve achieved three promotions, establishing Dundee in the SPFL Premiership and taking them into the top six.

“We had a tight budget, at times, at Dundee but we managed to bring in some good players from the lower leagues, and worked hard with them to improve them.

“We then sold two or three on, and that gave a degree of satisfaction in helping create a player with a market value of around £500,000.

“Losing your job is part and parcel of football. It’s a results-driven business, pure and simple.

“I’m not bitter about what happened to me with my job. I was devoted to the football club.

“I spent three years there, moved to the city and absolutely embraced my job. I gave it my all and had a fair degree of success. I’m proud of what we achieved.

“Listen, last season was a wee bit of a struggle, but I always had a great bond with the players and the fans were great to me.

“I had great support from the backroom staff. That meant a lot to me.

“I wish the club well and I was pleased for the players and supporters that the club retained its Premiership status.

“Most managers, at some stage, end up out of work and it’s about what happens next. There is nothing to be gained from dwelling on the past.

“This is the first time in 25 years that I haven’t been in a job. From when I left school as a teenager to join Hamilton, right through to being a manager, I’ve never been out of the game for a pre-season.

“So this has been something new for me but I’ve taken positives from it.

“It’s also been nice that when we were on our family holiday a few weeks ago, my phone wasn’t ringing 40 or 50 times a day with conversations about players coming or going or contracts and pre-season drills.

“That kind of thing, I have to say, added to the relaxation of the holiday.

“This period out has really refreshed me. I’ve spent time with the family, and I’ve managed to catch up with friends, something I wouldn’t normally have time to do. I’ve also had a few games of golf.

“But, that said, I hope to be back into it as soon as possible, and I look forward to having to deal with the phone calls and making more than 100 decisions a day on different things to do with a football club and the dressing-room.”

Hartley has already managed almost 250 competitive games and has a win rate of 41%.

He has an abundance of contacts in the game and peers who will take his call. Naturally, he has already tapped into a few of them and this has helped him prepare for what comes next.

He said: “I think my CV is good. I’m an upbeat person and I feel that having this break out of football will see me return to the game as a better and wiser manager.

“I’ve a feeling that, two or three years from now, I will look back on things and feel that parting company with Dundee was the best thing that happened to me. I’m positive about the future.

“I’ve also had time to reflect on my three years at Dundee. It’s given me time to sit back and draw breath because with the hours I put in as Dundee manager, I never had time for anything else.

“Rightly or wrongly, everything was secondary to my job.

“I’m a workaholic and I think that’s the way you need to be. I’m out of work but I’ve not stopped working.

“I’m looking forward to what the future may hold and I’m planning for the next stage of my career.

“My few months off have been spent wisely. I’ve been to Celtic in the company of Brendan Rodgers.

“I’ve also had conversations with Derek McInnes, Gordon Strachan (right), Alex McLeish, Craig Brown and Neil Lennon – all people who have been in a similar situation to the one I find myself in just now – and found out how they coped with losing a managerial job.

“The one constant message that kept coming back was to stay positive, and to see as many different people as you can to enhance your knowledge so that you’ll be as well prepared as possible for when the next opportunity comes along.

“It’s about bouncing back and being even better than I was in my last place of work.

“I’m only 40 and I am still learning. I actually love finding out new things about the game, different methods, different ways of recruitment, more understanding of sports science, picking up new training drills and the psychological side to man-managing players.

“I’ve been taking in games, looking at players and also doing some media work.

“I just want to be the best I possibly can be. I enjoy working with players and being on the training ground.

“From the boys I had at Alloa, when I brought the likes of Scott Bain and Stevie May there on loan, and seeing the way they have developed into players of a very high standard. That thrills me.

“It was the same with Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart at Dundee. We coached them every day, gave them a platform to work from and they responded brilliantly.

“Of course, I’d rather we’d still had Hemmings and Stewart to choose for the team last season but they were given the chance of excellent contracts down south and they had to take them.

“We all move on at some stage and as a manager you hope that it goes in an upward fashion.

“But I’m open to any opportunity and I’ll see what lies ahead. I know I have lots to offer and it’s about a chairman offering you that opportunity.”